I was scared, everything felt so surreal, the longer I stayed stuck the more I doubted that this was true. When the shaking of the ground stopped and there was nothing to keep me grounded I lost sense of time.

There was no beating of my heart, no movement on my chest, need to blink or the ability to do so, I stared at the darkness, shapes danced in my vision, faces appeared and disappeared as I tried to hum to myself, there was no vibration on my chest but I still could hear the sound in my head

I started to struggle, trying to lift myself, bracing my arms on what I believe to be the ground as I threw everything that I had against whatever was holding me down I couldn’t feel any exertion, no fatigue in the arms, nothing digging in my palms as I used everything that I had.

I don’t know if I was being delirious but I felt more space to move, the more it went on the more I could lift my body, It didn’t matter how much effort I put into it or how long I kept at it, my arms never tired or hurt, and in what felt so little but an unknown amount of time I could stand on my knees.

I finally could move around, even if it was just a few short steps, I finally had some freedom and used it, I moved everywhere that I could, it took me a while to notice that I couldn’t move my arms, I still felt like I was using them like they were bracing onto the ground still.

I tried to move my arms but couldn’t, they felt stiff, stuck in place. I trashed around, trying to free my arms from whatever was holding them, when I stopped feeling my arms, the stiffness, and the pressure was gone from them but I still couldn’t move them, I now lost any and all sensation from them.

 

Something started to drip where my arms should be, I could feel something moving every time I tried to move my arms, until after a few moments I felt them again, as I moved them I struck something, something in the middle of my small space.

 

Two pillars were in here, each touching a different corner of my space, each of them felt round and extremely smooth, they stood out from the rugged and many points of what I think is rubble that is trapping me in the darkness.

After staring at the ever-changing shapes, in the ever-changing darkness sounds started again, I didn’t know if it was on my head or if these sounds were really coming back.

 

Slowly things started to come back, things I had not even missed anymore, I slowly started to feel the irritation of dust in my eyes, the rise of my chest, the beating of my heart, and the sound of creaking.

 

Ever so slowly I felt dust falling on my head, my hair touching my back, and a loud snap as something hit my back and I was brought to my stomach, I started to cough violently as I wiggled myself, trying to free myself, I could feel something cutting my back and the burn of the cuts and something dripping down my back.

I grit my teeth and continued moving, trying to rid myself of the weight that wanted to crush me to the uneven stone-filled ground that cut my stomach and chest, after much pain and tears I finally moved enough to not be crushed, I moved slightly to the left, to where I remember one of the pillars to be.

There was barely enough space for me to wiggle my body, one of my arms was stuck below me and the other could barely move from my side, I felt an ever-present burning in my chest from many scratches that I got from my small amount of movement.

I could feel the edges of the rubble scratching my body with every little breath I took, then there was the sensation of something cold dripping on my back, I shivered and tried dodging but with my very limited movement, the water continued to drip and make its way down my back.

I then heard the sounds of more of the rubble collapsing, my small safe space is taken from me, as my arms were now stuck below and by my side, I can move my head but with that movement, I feel my neck and head being cut by the jagged edges around me.

————

Unknown

I urged people to get away from the building as police started to set a perimeter and the rescuers started to look at the collapse, more than half of it slopped downwards, some pieces seemed to have been crushed into dust while in other places pieces as larger than a fully grown man could be seen jutting out between the debris

 

This building was not the only one, but the worst of the damage seems to be concentrated here, some of the buildings close by have rooms exposed to open air, that was already more than enough reason to evacuate them.

My job is simple, make sure no one gets near the remains of the building, how many times have people been found trying to move the rubble with their hands, their faces twisted in pain and grief, looking for their loved ones.

As it gets closer to sundown the sound of heavy machinery can be heard, and most of the debris is made of large chunks, the ground rumbles as space is opened for the machinery, and debris is cleared in search of survivors.

 

The strangest part will come soon, the emptiness below all of this, the destruction happened at peak rush hour, but still, below this, it’ll be if not totally, at least mostly empty, not even blood or any body parts are found.

As people work some people were found, but much less than what should be, and only people still breathing or on death’s door are found, dead bodies are rarely ever found in those ‘phenomena’ as the media calls them for a lack of a better word.

 

The longer this happens the more my mind wanders, as people still flock at the limit of what is allowed but there’s more people than just me keeping an eye out, my eyes just wanders over destruction, at the people being carried away.

 

Without even noticing my breath stops in my throat when I see someone ready to be pulled out, but even from where I am I can see that his stomach is impaled, he’ll not survive, as soon as that is removed he’ll die within moments, This is not the first and I doubt it’ll be the last time I’ll see this.

At some moment my phone started to ring, only now I noticed the vibrations in my pocket, I looked for someone near me and warned people that I had to answer a call and asked for someone to look over my place.

 

Looking at the number I knew it to be my fiance by the picture of both of us on one of our vacations, accepting the call “I’m kinda of occupied at the moment. What do you need?” his voice is filled with worry and I can hear some panting “Did you find her in there?” I’m a little confused and ask for some explanation “My sister, she said that she would be out looking for a job and asked me to babysit Diann, her little girl”

 

I hear him pausing to take a deep breath, “I said that I couldn’t and then she said that she would simply take Diann with her. A friend that helps her get some jobs works in the building that collapsed, did you find any signs of any of them?”.

I pause for a moment, trying to process what I just heard, then I run to where all the rescuees are taken to, a medical area where people ambulances can be taking people. I ask for a description of my niece while I look for both of them, “Diann is very tall for her age huh… 1,45 Cm if I remember it right. Her hair is a very dark brown full of curls, dark brown eyes, last time I saw her she was wearing a cyan dress and a baseball hat full of stickers on it”

There are a lot more people being rescued than I expected - whether that’s good I don’t know - I see some kids, all of them either crying or frozen in confusion, crying for their family, but only being comforted by the paramedics and volunteers, but none that get even close to Diann’s description, “I can’t find her… but don’t worry, we still have just started to clean here, we can still find them. now can you give me a description of your sister?”

I ran from tent to tent, but when the sun started to set and lights illuminate the whole collapsed area, I saw someone that fitted Edina’s description. Long wavy hair, looking to be on the shorter side 1,80 Cm, dark skin. As she was set down and people started to take care of her I tried to see if she was coherent, as I tried talking to her, I was moved back by the professionals.

After a few agonizing minutes, she finally seems to wake up, her eyes wandering around it takes a few moments but she starts to mumble before clarity finally returns to her eyes, “Diann… Sir, did you find my girl?”

 

She tries to stand up before being held down, she tries harder but seems to be weak and gives up after struggling for a few more moments, instead trying to convince the people holding her. After a few moments, I raise my voice

 

“Breath. We are still continuing the rescue efforts, as soon as we are sure your life is not in danger you’ll probably be let go.” distress is visible on her face as I finish speaking.

I look her up and down, she is covered head to toll in the dust from the debris, her skin is painted a faded gray color, her hair is in disarray and there are some nicks and bruises but nothing that seems life-threatening.

 

Her voice is still very shaky when she tries to speak again "What happened? I was talking with a producer and… then… rubble all around me. It just happened" Tears start to well up on her face "Please…l" her hands reach to the paramedic closest to her, and she cries uncontrollably while holding onto their hand.

 

The young fellow whose hands are almost being crushed by Edina tries to calm her down, tries to say some reassuring words, but nothing calms or reassures her, but… she does starts taking some deep breaths and seemed to be trying to calm herself.

 

Using that opportunity I leave the tent seeing that she was as well as it’s to be expected. As soon as I’m outside I call my fiance to tell him that we found his sister, he still sounds worried sick but I can hear the relief in his voice "Good… I'm telling my supervisor what happened and I'm driving to be with her right now."

 

————

 

Diann

 

Everything feels so cold, I can’t feel any wind but the dripping never stopped, the water just got colder with every moment, my breath is shallow and my fingers burn and feel hard to move. Some time ago the rubble started to shake and more water and dust started to fall on me, the small trickle became a constant stream down my back, my body shivered non-stop, and with all the dust I couldn’t stop sneezing, one of my arms is fully underwater now and the water doesn't want to stop.

 

I feel so sleepy but there is too much, too much noise, the ground and the rubble around me don’t stop shaking, the freezing water doesn’t let my body stop shivering, and with every little movement my body gets more cuts.

 

The more dust, the more I sneeze, and the harder it is to breathe, after every breath I feel it’s harder to breathe deeper, I just want to sleep but can’t.

 

The noise doesn't stop, the stream of water gets stronger after a particularly strong noise, I hear more creaking from the round pillar close to me as now feel all the rubble around me getting closer, moving my head gives me even more cuts.

 

The noises get closer again, and my breathing is shallow but I take the deepest breath I can, and scream, my throat hurts and I can barely hear my own voice, I choke as I breathe in to scream again, the water never stopped and is now taking half of my little safe space.

 

My teeth clatter and I cannot rest my face on the ground or water fills my mouth, my neck hurts from holding my head up and my head is constantly being cut by the constant shaking, my throat hurts and I cough non-stop, but I won’t stop screaming.

 

————

 

Unknown

 

Most of the debris was already moved by now, now machinery moves to clean the largest of debris, the debris closest to the building. While walking at the edge of the disaster I hear a faint sound.

 

I can’t be sure if I’m imagining it, but over the sound of machinery and the voices of the people working. I stop and try my hardest to listen, I’m still unsure but I call to the people closest to me.

 

As some people come near me we try to find the origin of the sound, we found the direction of the sound, near the center of the disaster, the area is littered with the largest pieces of debris. This is troublesome, the person who I hope to be my niece is in a difficult place, we have to be very careful to not move something wrong and crush them by accident.

 

The machines move slowly and stay at the edge of the accident, things are laid down to stop more things from collapsing, and people work for hours non-stop, they change shifts but everyone looks tired when the sun starts to rise I can finally get a glimpse of something.

 

From where I am I can get a glimpse of the person being lifted, they seem drenched and even from this distance, I can see their face and body marred with blood.

 

I can see my niece, her skin is so pale that I swear you can see through it, her fingertips are starting to get a purple hue, her dress is cut into pieces, and what still survived sticking close to her body.

 

As soon as she is pulled up I see people checking for her vitals, she is moved slowly and it is a gut-wrenching view but I can't look away. At the moment I’m happy that Edina and Andry are not seeing this.

 

————

 

Diann

 

The noise gets closer to me, the water gets stronger and I don't feel the strength to lift my head above the pool of water that now fills more than half of my small safe space.

 

I try to hold my head above water but It’s a losing fight, my head falls back down, the water enters my nose with every breath and I can’t lift my head anymore, I try my best try pulling strength from anywhere I can, and it works, I pull the strength to lift my head.

 

The cold is pushed away, I feel my body creaking as my head lifts ever so slowly, I cough some water out but I almost don’t feel it, I feel my heartbeat slowing ever so slowly, my breaths feel shallower but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

 

My head is a little over the water and feels locked in place, even trying to move it feels useless but I can now breathe without drowning, after some short breaths I finally see some light, and as the rubble on my head is lifted slightly I can see their legs.

 

The sleepiness was already terrible, but the moment I saw hope, the little strength in my body disappeared, my body was still stuck in place but my eyes started to close, it didn’t matter how much I tried I couldn’t stay awake and when I tried to blink I couldn’t open my eyes again.